Re: Rounding errors

From: Chuck Stevens (charles.stevens_at_unisys.com)
Date: 09/01/04 

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 13:26:15 -0700

"Robert Wagner" <robert@wagner.net.yourmammaharvests> wrote in message
news:3c5cj0thpk6gued451akolsbmu8560qp2e@4ax.com...

> >You may be in the habit of assuming that "calender" is usually a
> >misspelling for "calendar"; I, however, tend to operate under the
assumption
> >that the person who wrote "calender" meant exactly what he wrote, and
only
> >if the word doesn't make sense in that context would I begin to suspect
that
> >perhaps the wrong (valid) word -- not a misspelling -- was used.
>
> I assume people using a spelling checker are asking for help with
> spelling. I don't use one, nor do you.

Which doesn't really explain why "consanguinaceous" has to be a spelling
error simply because it isn't in any dictionary or spell-checking software
you could find. Just because "antidisestablishmentarianism" doesn't appear
in any of the usual *American* English dictionaries (it's not in the
Webster's Third, but may, apparently, still be found in the current OED) or,
for that matter, whether anyone other than I has ever written or otherwise
used the word "antidisestablishmentarianistically" does not mean that it is
not an English word whose meaning is clear.
 For just about any English word ending in "-ism" for which a corresponding
word "-ist" occurs the adjectival form ending in "-istical" and from that
the adverbial form ending in "-istically" can be deduced with clear meaning,
although *sometimes* shorter forms are synonymous (or nearly so), may be
more accepted and and are probably more readily understood.

Consider "mysticism". The word "mystic" is widely understood. "Mysticist"
is not in the dictionary, but I would contend that "mysticist" exists as a
word (one who practices the behavior of a mystic, specifically as distinct
from being one, and thus a slightly derogatory term). Likewise, from there,
"mysticistical[ly]" is subtly different semantically from "mystical[ly]". I
grant that on first hearing the audience might be puzzled by the words, but
if they take the trouble to apply the standard rules of English their
meaning (and the intended distinction from the more common words) should be
clear.

To return to "consanguinaceous", the suffixes "-ous" and "-aceous" are both
clearly defined in the Webster's Ninth as adjectival suffixes with subtly
different meanings. I still can't figure out why you felt
"consanguinaceous" was a *spelling error* unless some software or dictionary
explicitly told you so. The formation of words from the suffixes "-aceous"
and "-ous" is well-founded in English *grammar*, and is in fact described in
a common *lexicon*. That's orthogonal to whether docdwarf *really meant*
to write "consanguineous" when he wrote "consanguinaceous"; the meaning of
the latter term is clear (at least to me), and it is spelled correctly
according to English rules.

I will admit I would have some trouble distinguishing the semantics of
"consanguineously" from those of "consanguinaceously", though.

    -Chuck Stevens

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